Category: Business

Tulu Kapi Gold Mines (TKGM) has signed the Final Umbrella Agreement with two of its major industry contractors, British earthmoving construction firm, PW Mining and Australian process plant construction company, Lycopodium.

Tulu Kapi, the gold and copper exploration and development company is the first mining project in Wolega, Oromia Regional State.

After signing the agreement, chairman for KEFI, Harry Anagnostaras-Adams, told ENA that it is a large project; it’ll be exporting approximately 300 million USD per annum gold and silver upon completion of construction by 2025.

It will employ directly and indirectly up to 10,000 people, and Foreign Direct Investment so far has been about 100 million USD, and with an additional 400 million USD to complete the project.

“Those steps we have to go through with the government obviously, finalizing all the arrangements in the community… as soon as all preparations complete, we can move forward and we have two years of construction and gold production,” he said.

He noted that his company Kapi is a sponsoring company and brought Africa’s largest development bank as part of it.

He added we brought in very large contractors who specialized in mining–British and Australian contractors in different aspects of the project.

“We have a number of investors through us and also the federal government and the regional government are also shareholders. So, it’s a public private partnership with Kapi the largest shareholder and government is a key shareholder but also banks and contractors playing their role in the project,” he said.

The agreement was attended by, including, country director for TKGM, Abera Mamo, Chairman for KEFI, Harry Anagnostaras-Adams, finance director for PW Mining, Ciaran Quinn, commissioner for Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC), Lelise Neme, state minister of finance, Semereta Sewasew and other government officials.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

First National Bank (FNB) Namibia has announced that the banking sector in Southern Africa will soon implement changes to how clients make and receive payments in the Common Monetary Area (CMA).

The modification is required due to new legislation governing the treatment of cross-border transfers, with which all institutions must comply.

FNB and RMB Namibia will transition to the new system on 11 June 2023.

FNB Namibia’s Payments Manager, Albert Matongela, in a press release on Tuesday said all cross-border Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) payments handled and received by clients within the CMA (Namibia, Eswatini, Lesotho and South Africa) would no longer be regarded as domestic payment methods.

Any cross-border payments to an individual or a business in the CMA should thus be initiated as a forex transaction/global payment on the FNB App and FNB Online Banking.

“Beneficiaries of cross-border payments will also be required to provide Balance of Payments information to their bank before funds are released into their account,” he explained.

Matongela noted that the payment changes are in line with modernisation in the financial sector, at national and regional levels.

Source: NAMPA

Ethiopia and Tanzania have kicked off a conference in Addis Ababa today with a view to accelerating the development of renewable energy in the two countries.

The two-day conference is underway under the theme “Fast-tracking renewable energy investment in Ethiopia and Tanzania”.

Addressing the conference, Minister of Water and Energy Habtamu Itefa said Africa in general and Ethiopia in particular has huge untapped renewable energy potential.

Hydro, wind and solar energy sectors were mentioned by the minister among the top priorities.

For Habtamu, engaging and encouraging the private sector is crucial to realize the potential of the huge asset of the energy sector in the years to come.

Representative of the ambassador of Tanzania in Ethiopia and General Manager of Tanzania Geothermal Development Company, Matthew Mwangomba said for his part that to ensure the enormous energy potential in Ethiopia and Tanzania, sharing expertise and experiences is critically important.

African Energy Now is hosting AENCon23 to showcase concrete opportunities in existing and upcoming renewable energy projects, including in solar, wind, hydro and geothermal energy.

The conference also aims at engaging international financiers and technology providers on renewable energy investment opportunities in the two countries.

The conference which targeted to accelerating renewable energy in Ethiopia and Tanzania is attending by all pertinent stakeholders from both countries.

African Energy Now (AEN) is a grant-funded programme that supports African governments to secure financing for investment-ready projects in the renewable energy sector.

AEN provides expertise on technical and financial aspects of renewable energy projects and supports investments from the initial engagement of investors up to negotiated terms for financial close.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Representatives from twelve Austrian companies, many of them multinationals linked to different sectors of the economy, are in Angola looking for business opportunities, as part of strengthened cooperation between the two countries.

They are Austrian Federal Economic, ALPLA, AMEX, Andritz Hidro Gmbh, OMV AG, Vamed Engineering, Voest Railway Sistems, Waagner-Biro Bridge Systems AG, ALPLA, among others.

These companies are linked to the sectors of energy (solar and hydro), construction of dams, agricultural technology, construction of railway systems, health, oil, gas and petrochemicals, plastic packaging, among other areas.

The representatives of these companies, many of them vice-presidents, have been in Angola as part of the official visit of the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Austria, Karl Nehammer, aimed to strengthen bilateral cooperation.

The vice president of the Austrian Economic Chambers, Carmem Goby, who was addressing the Angola/Austria Business Forum opening ceremony, said the meeting represents a “step” toward the strengthening of the long-term ties and partnership between the two countries.

Speaking on behalf of more than 500,000 Austrian companies, which are part of the Chamber, Carmem Goby said that they support companies, ranging from the small to large companies in various countries.

“I am accompanied by 12 large companies interested in investing in Angola and others with some investment, with success”, said the Austrian businesswoman.

The group of companies conducts networking among Angolan companies, in addition to other sector-related meetings, with members of the Government

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)

The National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANPG) and oil operators have outlined a plan to reduce unplanned shutdowns, with the aim to mitigate oil output decline, the ANPG CEO Paulino Jerónimo has said.

The ANPG CEO said the reduction of unplanned shutdowns will be done on a preventive improvement basis.

The plan will focus on the production of additional resources in mature fields, Jeronimo said during an interview to Angola Public Television (TPA).

In this case, he added, agreements have been signed between 2019 and 2020 with oil companies for the development of fields.

“This will allow for stability in production,” Jeronimo said, stressing that production today is not far from stabilization compared to 2021, 2022 and with what is expected in 2023, which leads to a certain balance.

Jerónimo said that the decline in Angola’s crude oil production has been relatively soft from 2008 to date, recording around 1.1 million barrels per day.

The official pointed to the non-permanent launch of tenders for new blocks as the cause of the decline.

In 20 years, or from 1999 to 2019, four tenders were held, with the fourth being held by ANPG in 2019.

“This means that there has been a big timespan with the holding of these bids,” Jeronimo said.

As an example, he said that the ANPG has existed for four years and is currently holding its fourth bidding, reiterating that these bids should be permanent so that in case of success, there can be production and reserves be discovered and replaced.

Another problem that Paulino Jerónimo believes has to be solved is the issue of the marginal fields that had been discovered over the last 20 to 30 years, but are economically unviable in light of the existing contracts.

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)

Poultry farming groups in Kirinyaga County are reaping big from egg hatchery ventures that have seen them earn over Sh 1 million in the last few months.

Consequently, driven by the increased number of chicken farmers and demand for white meat, the farmers ventured into egg hatching business through the support of County Government, Wezesha Kirinyaga Empowerment program.

The farmers’ groups were issued with egg incubators that are supplying chicks to farmers across the County with an estimate of over 10,000 chicks’ worth over Sh 1 million.

The 19 groups involved in poultry are part of the 473 community organizations that have been funded by the County Government to undertake various agricultural projects such as poultry keeping, pig rearing, bee keeping, tomato and avocado farming, fish and dairy farming.

County Government gave out 19 incubators and generators for power back-up in the First Phase of the project. Each of the machines has a capacity to hatch 1,050 chicks at a go.

The project has economically empowered residents to diversify their agricultural activities, reducing overdependence on Traditional Cash Crops, whose prices are unreliable.

County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Dr. John Gachara, says that the egg hatching initiative has helped in the sustainability of the poultry keeping project.

Gachara said as a County they are planning to expand by issuing an additional two incubators per-ward so as to get more people to venture into the business.

Additionally, the County will supply free feeds for the poultry for the first six months; thereafter, the farmers are also able to get the feed at a subsidized price.

Miriam Wakuthii of Cera Kimandi Self Help Group says that apart from giving them the incubators, the county government has also trained them on how to undertake egg hatching business.

‘We are very grateful to the County for holding our hand. We have started making profit from this venture. We have increased the hatching success rate to 90 per cent,’ said Wakuthii.

Another beneficiary of the program, Benard Njeru said the project was not only helping farmers to feed their families, but was also bridging the global food and nutrition security gap, while boosting local economies and providing a platform for educating farmers.

‘As a group we had no financial capacity to buy the incubators, but the County Government helped us and we are now reaping the fruits of this investment,’ said Njeru.

Source: Kenya News Agency